Germany has now followed the lead taken by France, Hungary, Austria, Greece and Luxembourg, banning MON 810 on grounds of ‘environmental threat’.

This action, as you are no doubt aware, comes on top of a majority of EU Countries voting earlier this year NOT to force Austria and Hungary to lift their MON 810 bans; and, more recently, postponing any action against France’s ban.

This sequence of events signals the beginning of a turning of the tide in Europe, against GMO. It also offers Poland the opportunity to increase this equilibrium by following the example set by the Countries stated above, and banning MON 810 from being planted on Polish soil, on the same terms as those cited by Germany and indeed the other EU Countries.

Bearing in mind that we now have clear independent scientific evidence of both severe environmental and human health risks directly associated with GM crops and animal feeds, the ‘Precautionary Principle’ can be evoked and a freeze put on any further GM trials and plantings, in order to protect Poland from irresponsible contamination of the food chain.

We do most humbly call upon you, Mr President, to use your powers to block any Spring planting of the GM Maize MON 810, and thereby protect the purity of the Polish and our countryside and the Polish and our foods that emanate from it.

Press and People Alert

Progressive Fasting for a GMO Free Poland

Already, six days ago, Edyta Jaroszewska, 42 year old organic farmer and
chairperson of the Organic Farmers Association, started fasting for a GMO
Free Poland. Two days ago Danute Pilarska, another organic farmer and
chairperson of The Organic Farmer's Union, joined her. Yesterday, both
women, together with other members of the Coalition for a GMO Free Poland,
joined a meeting of the Polish government's Agricultural Committee in the
Senate in Warsaw. The committee was discussing the future of GMO in Poland.
After a few hours of debate Edyta concluded "There's no political will
within the Polish government to stop corporations from illegal planting of
the GM maize variety MON 810 - and to ensure that Poland is kept GMO free.
This opens the possibility of the widespread planting of MON 810 during this
year. So we don't have another choice other than to stay here and fight!"
Today, the fasting ladies, supported by other members of the Coalition, have
been protesting in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Warsaw.

* Dear friends - we and they need your support!! Please send your personal
letter of support for Danuta and Edita's brave action to the Polish
Ministers (see below). The goals of our fasting ladies and the Coalition for
a GMO Free Poland are:

To reinforce the BAN of all GM plants and - and as a fast-track - ban the
maize MON 810.

To introduce labelling of all GM foods and gradually withdraw these foods
from the market.

To introduce a BAN of GM animal feeds.

To use social/public funds (tax payer's money) to support traditional and
organic farming.

Genetically Modified Animals

Canadian author Margaret Atwood wrote about many of these same possibilities in her best-selling and starkly apocalyptic book - Oryx and Crake. It seems that in 2003, Atwood's book made more waves and garnered more headlines than the recent FDA's public forum requesting input on their proposed Draft Guidance for Industry: Regulation of genetically engineered animals containing heritable rDNA constructs.[read more]

International Network for a GMO Free World
Aarestrasse 44
3052 Zollikofen/Bern
Switzerland

Open letter to EU Environment and Agricultural Ministers and European Commissioners

"Call for a 2008 Pan European GMO Moratorium"

The Coalition for a GMO Free Poland - representing 180 organisations and specialists -in solidarity with the Network for a GMO Free World and the French and Spanish European Farmers Associations, call upon you to finally enforce the European Union's Precautionary Principle and halt all imports and plantings of genetically modified organisms in Europe.

The French government's decision to put safety ahead of profit through prohibiting the planting of GM maize MON 810, signals a new level of awareness of the dangers of GM foods. This is matched by the overwhelming opposition to such foods by European farmers and consumers.

The imperative for a Pan European moratorium on GMO is based on increasing recognition and evidence that public citizens and the environment are being used as a vast and untested GM laboratory experiment which threatens to run out of control unless immediately halted.

GMO patented transgenic seeds are not only dangerous, they are also used by transnational corporations to force farmers and rural communities around the world into a dangerous state of dependence. Indigenous seeds and local knowledge
are being lost at an alarming rate and food security is being destroyed.

You are no doubt aware that this process has already led to thousands of suicides amongst farmers in India's Punjab province whose GM cotton crops have repeatedly failed, leaving them with no income and no saved native seeds to fall back on. This tragic response will be repeated all over the world if we do not call NOW for a 10 year moratorium on all genetically engineered seeds and foods accompanied by a thorough independent review of their safety.

Scientific studies increasingly expose the fact that GMO are harmful to human, animal and environmental health. It has also been unequivocably established that it is simply not possible to have 'co-existence' between GM and GM-Free crops and plants.

Regulations determining that a 0.9% maximum threshold of GM contamination must trigger a labelling of foods as containing GMOs is a deception. GM crops contaminate neighbouring crops and the plots on which they are grown, including traditional and organic farmland. Widespread contamination thus becomes inevitable and consumers are misled into believing a label which ignores contamination up to 0.9% gives them any security. They are equally misled into believing that anything more than a tiny fraction of GM foods are tested for the presence of GM contamination.

You surely must recognise that only a long term moratorium of all GMO will prevent us and all furure generations from being condemned to accept GMO in our fields and on our plates.

European agricultural and environmental ministers and EU commissioners have an absolute duty to protect their citizens and environments against the insiduous threats presented by genetically engineered seeds and foods. All our futures depend upon maintaining the health and welfare of our soils, seeds and biodiverse environments.

Sincerely,

On the name of the Coalition for a GMO Free Poland
Sir Julian Rose, president of the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside
Jadwiga Lopata, laureat of Goldman Prize, ekological Nobel
e-mail: biuro@icppc.pl

On the name of the International Network for a GMO Free Europe/World
Giuseppina
Pagano, Network Coordinator GMO free Europe/World
e-mail: gpagano@gmx.net

19th February 2008

Dear Friends, Please pass the below information to your contacts in order to
expose the completely unacceptable methods of pro-GMO lobbying which are
currently
forcing GMOs on Poland.
With greetings,
Jadwiga and Julian

any statements concerning GMO plantings in Poland during 2007 year were referring to illegal plantings.

1. The Seed Regulation Act of 27 April 2006 Art. 57 point 3, ascertains literally that "Seed material of genetically modified crops is prohibited for turnover on the territory of Poland."

Application of the term "turnover", which was intentionally considered by the legislative bodies to cover "importing, distributing and handling" and also "operating with or using and applying " - has been publicly reduced by the GMO industry' lobbyists to the meaning of placing on the market " as defined in reg no 1829/2003 (placing on the market' means the holding of food or feed / GMO/ for the purpose of sale, including offering for sale, or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not, and the sale, distribution and other forms of transfer themselves ).
Consequently this has created a gap in the strict prohibition legal regulation.

The above meaning promotes an erroneous interpretation which, despite the letter of the Seed Act, provides for individual farmers the " legal" conditions to deal with and cultivate transgenic crops "for their own use."

Meanwhile Monsanto, which controls the Polish Association of Maize Producers, together with numerous corrupted scientists, has been promoting among the corn farmers a campaign to smuggle Mon 810 seeds into Poland as the only panaceum for the 'corn borer' which, surprisingly, expanded widely in recent years. ( Astonishingly none of the state agencies resopnsible for agrotecnic information presented any alternative treatments against this pest.)

2. Despite recent (2007) efforts to introduce a new Polish GMO Law initiative, which has since been rejected by the European Commission, the so called "old" GMO regulation adopted in 22 nd june 2001 ( DZ. U. Nr. 76, poz 811 ) still remains valid.

Based on the above, compulsory monitoring and registration procedures on each stage of the distribution and application chain were created in order to control GMO materials delivered to and applied on the Polish territory.

This act also comprises rigorous procedures for internal notification and penal consequences in the case of unauthorised application of GMOs, especially in an open field application - connected with deliberate release to the environment.
According to the rules and restrictions of that bill, nobody is entitled to operate with GMO on Polish territory without prior and appropriate acceptance of the Ministry.

In Chapter 7 of above mentioned Legal Act, numerous civil and penal code responsibilities are preresquisite, including imprisonment up to 8 years for unauthoritiesd use of GMO materials.

Furthermore, following the requirements of that law, the Ministry of Environment keeps a "Public Register of GMOs", in which all of the written applictions placed by potential GMO operators are specified. In 2007 no permissions for any GMO materials for cultivation were issued.

Quite the contrary, the application of Monsanto Polska of 27 February 2006 was rejected on 10th of April 2007.

In light of the above, any cultivations of GMO plants in Poland (if indeed there were any) are illegal and as such, have no right to be shown in the "official" GMO application reports.

"The Coalition for a GMO Free Poland" is currently urging the responsible government institution to investigate the case, including the prosecution of GMO operators for their illegal practices. Poland still essentially remains a GMO free country.

(*) In December 2007 ICPPC - International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside has taken the initiative of launching a new body "The Coalition for a GMO Free Poland." www.gmo.icppc.pl www.polska-wolna-od-gmo.org

Fighting to Keep Poland GMO Free

October, 2007

Dear Friends,

As the Polish General Election approaches (21st Oct.) ICPPC has teamed up
with Jeffrey Smith ("Seeds of Deception" and "Genetic Roulette") to press
home a new message of hope that will keep Poland GMO Free and open the
possibility for a legal challenge to the European Commission's support for
GMO in the European Court of Justice.

On October 12th the European Commission rejected Poland's compromise plan
which would have allowed the commercial planting of GMO in 'special
designated areas' - an attempt by the Polish government to placate EU
authorities insistance that Poland's current 'blanket ban' of GMO is
illegal.

ICPPC sees the Commission's rejection in a positive light, having
consistently campaigned for an outright ban on GMO, and resisted middle of
the road 'coexistence' compromises that would allow the commercial planting
of GMO in Poland.

ICPPC, working in close collaboration with Jeffrey Smith - who is currently
in Poland promoting "Genetic Roulette" - is now pressing the government (or
any new government) to hold on to the commitment to keep Poland GMO Free,
and to directly challenge the European Commission's assertion that GMO
foods, feed and seeds are safe.

The message in the text below, sent to the Prime Minister and all the main
Ministers, has been signed up to by participants of a packed meeting held at
ICPPC headquaters near Krakow, on October 14th, and addressed by Jeffrey
Smith, Julian Rose and Jadwiga Lopata, as part of a series of ICPPC
lecture/workshops entitled "Taking Control of Our Lives".

The case for maintaining the current ban on GMO seeds and feed imports grows
greater with every day that passes.

The European Commission and multinational corporate pressures cannot force
Poland to accept genetically modified organisms simply because of a
commitment to "free-trade". Human and environmental health comes before
trade interests. This is what the 'Precautionary Principle', enshrined in
European Union law, is all about.

In his comprehensively researched books "Seeds of Deception" and "Genetic
Roulette" Jeffrey Smith highlights again, in great detail, the facts behind
what many scientists and farmers have been saying for more than a decade:
genetically modified organisms are a dangerous and untested experiment - and
have no place in the human and animal food chain or in the environment.

We, the undersigned, therefore call on the Polish government to scrap the
proposition of the GMO Act signed by the Board of Ministers on February 13th
2007, which seeks to arrive at a 'coexistence compromise' imposed by the
European Commission. A compromise which will in turn opens the door for the
commercial planting of GMO in Poland.

Any attempt to break Poland's status as a GMO Free Country, giving away our
rich biodiversity, the health of citizens and the traditional and ecological
agriculture which forms the majority of Poland's farming activities, will be
viewed as capitulation to a corporate/political power lobby having interests contrary to the majority
of caring and responsible citizens of Poland.

Terra Madre 2006

GM Rice Pollution

GM Rice Pollution Gives New Momentum to Call for a Comlete GMO Ban

...the Arkansas government suspects that the crisis began when pollen from rice tested on US farms spread to contaminate conventional crops (Independent, 27 August 2006).

The Bayer LL Rice 601 fiasco finally exposes the myth that cross polination between GM and non GM crops can be prevented by a system of controled 'coexistence'.

GM field trials are revealed as a deliberate act of sabotage conducted with the virtual certainty that neighbouring crops will become polluted and the human food chain will become contaminated.

There is nothing remotely scientific about such trials; however the quest for ever more 'scientific' information is the chimera by which the public is seduced into believing in the need for such field experiments.

Another revealing feature of this ongoing saga, is the fact that no proper checks were carried out on rice shipments until the pollution had been admitted by the US authorities. We can assume from this, that checks for GM contamination are a very rare phenomina and that the consumer is far from receiving any serious protection  contrary to the advice coming from national governments and the European Union.

All this should jolt us into recognising the insiduous game being played-out by the European Commission in it's attempt to pursuade EU countries to adopt measures for the planting of GM crops: the so called coexistence rules.

On the accumulated evidence ALL GM FIELD TRIALS AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION MUST NOW BE BANNED AND ALL GM IMPORTS HALTED. THERE IS NO OTHER SANE SOLUTION FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR FOOD AND FARMING.

We believe that there is a strong need to form a common campaign in order to pressurise the EU to act on the above demands. To this end, we would like to suggest the convening of a common strategy meeting between all those who think similarly. Please come back to us as soon as possible to let us know if you agree with this suggestion.

Press and People Alert

It's Time To Wake Up! And to Demand the Strict Protection of the Polish Countryside Against All Attempts to Force GMO into the Environment and Food Chain.
Dedicated individuals in Swietokrzyskie, Podlaskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie regions helped to organise four conferences and a number of important educational meetings in support of ICPPC's GMO awareness raising tour through central and North East Poland. Jadwiga Lopata and Julian Rose were speaking about threats of GMO and showing the film "Life running out of control". A video of the Wawel anti GMO international summit with lectures by renowned international speakers was also shown.
Local Authorities, farmers and concerned citizens were shocked to discover the truth behind the laboratory experiment that has produced GMO. Their shock was reinforced when they saw that genetic egineering is being pushed forward in the face of irrefutable scientific evidence of disease, death and unrecallable cross contamination across the food chain.
"The Genetic Modification of our Food is not a Science" said Sir Julian Rose, President of ICPPC "It is a large scale and deeply flawed laboratory experiment, and we are the mice at the receiving end." "The scientists who thought that you could make a harmless 'novel' food by injecting human genes into fish and rice or fish genes into tomatoes, have been proved wrong.
They have produced an ecological and human health time-bomb that will destabilise and destroy millions of years of evolotion of our food chain, unless we can stop this experiment now. Hundreds of these experiments are going ahead with the covert support of national governments and the financial backing of mindless corporate agribusinesses whose only interest is profit."
"Polish farmers are only just becoming aware of what will hit them if the government allows the commercial planting of GMO" said Jadwiga Lopata, founder and vice president of ICPPC "We showed them what had happened to American, Canadian and Indian farmers; how their crops - and their livelyhoods - had been destroyed by cross contamination from farms growing GM maize, soya, oilseed rape and cotton. How the corporations selling GM seeds cheated them into signing contracts that prohibited them taking any legal action against the corporations supplying the GM seeds. And how the 'patenting' of these GM seeds also gave the corporations the power to refuse farmers their time honored right to save harvested seeds. Multinational corporations are demanding payment of fines (through the courts) from farmers whose fields were cross contaminated through no fault of their own."
Jadwiga Lopata and Sir Julian Rose are urgently calling for more individuals to show the GMO expose film "Life Running Out of Control" to audiences all over Poland in order to raise awareness of the threat which GMO poses to the environment, consumers and farmers in Poland and beyond.
"Time is short. We must act now. Our government wants to introduce a new act which will open Poland for commercial planting of GM crops. They must not be allowed to signe -away the right of future generations to eat a natural healthy meal and enjoy a clean and beautiful environmen"